Monitoring Backup

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The Backup SMS Site Server task logs its activity to the SMSbkup.log file located in the SMS*/*Logs/ folder.

The task also generates status messages to report its activity and to report various erroneous conditions encountered at run time. (Backup status message numbers are 50xx.) There are three levels of errors reported by the SMS backup task: Critical Errors, Errors, and Warnings. Error conditions affect the backup task, depending on the error level.

Critical errors Critical Errors cause the backup task to stop. The backup operation is considered failed.

Errors The backup task continues to run when encountering Error conditions; however, the backup operation is considered failed and the snapshot (if generated) is not valid.

Warning: The backup task continues to run when encountering Warning conditions. A warning by itself does not invalidate the backup snapshot and does not cause any harm to the backup operation. The backup operation is considered successful.

Note

  • If AfterBackup.bat runs as part of the backup operation, it has no effect on the success or failure status of the backup operation.

The backup task logs Critical Errors when encountering problems such as:

  • The backup task is unable to read the registry to obtain site setup information.

  • The backup task is unable to access the site control file, or the backup control file (SMSbkup.ctl).

  • The specified backup snapshot destination is not valid (for example, it points to the SMS installation folder).

  • The backup control file has syntax errors.

The backup task logs Errors when encountering problems such as:

  • The backup task cannot perform a registry backup command (reg) or a database backup command (sitedbdump).

  • The backup task cannot start a service.

The backup task logs Warnings when encountering problems such as:

  • The backup task is unable to connect to the system's Service Control Manager to verify that a service is installed.

  • A token is being redefined in the SMSbkup.ctl file. In this case, the second definition of the same token is ignored.

  • The backup task cannot perform a file backup command (file).

  • Some of the tools in machineinfo, or some of the commands in smssqlinfo, failed.

If the backup task reports any Critical Errors or Errors, find the cause of the problem, repair it, and rerun the task.

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